Kholes
|Row 9 title = |Row 9 info = |Row 10 title = |Row 10 info = }} God of law, judgment, and justice, Kholes appears as a middle-aged man with coal-black skin and silver hair pulled back in a braid that falls to his waist. He wears fine white robes and a permanently unimpressed scowl, charged with arbitrating the affairs of the gods and the afterlife. His gavel, Wordsealer, takes the form of a mighty warhammer as long as Kholes is himself tall. He shares a mutual enmity and loathing with Brenoir, and his associated animal is the bear. Dogma The dogmatic tenets of Kholes are as ironwrought and unyielding as the god himself, enforcing obedience to laws both universal and man-made, to one’s superiors, and to one’s conscience – three source from which, he teaches, all wisdom and righteousness spring eternal. Each source of Law balances the others, providing harmony, and to disregard or violate any of them is to stand with Chaos (and therefore heresy). Prior to the Breaking, inquisitions within the Dominion were invariably led by the Kholese priesthood, though the current Mother Radiant favors the less extreme methodology of the similarly law-aligned church of St. Cuthbert. Kholes' most fervently preached philosophy deals in the exercise of judgment and dispassionate decisionmaking, calculating all of one’s actions to fall beneath the approval and blessing of the law, and – if need be – to exercise that judgment upon others. To be a judge is a holy and priestly calling among his worshippers, and to craft law even moreso, with many legislators and courtly clerks naming him as their patron deity. He also holds dominion over the execution of law – action, retribution for transgressions, and punishment, making him popular both among “lone wolf” paladins and organized police forces alike. It is thought that the disparity of these two domains – one passive in the extreme, one active – is an indication that Kholes may have once been worshipped as two separate gods prior to his inclusion in the Roseblessed pantheon, later combined to preserve the symmetry of its "rose-petal" iconography. Archaeological records of such a time, thanks to the Breaking, are unfortunately hard to come by. Clergy & Temples While Kholes is popular among members of law enforcement and government for obvious reasons, Rose priests of his faith are controversial figures. Referred to as archons, they serve as one-man (or one-woman) enforcers of the Mother Radiant's laws – judge, jury, and executioner, divinely sanctioned by the Rose Throne and rigorously selected for mental fortitude, martial ability, and strength of faith. Each archon is required to submit to a psychological evaluation yearly, and failure to report for this evaluation is tantamount to giving up one’s place within the order. Particularly dangerous archons who “go rogue” in this way may be hunted down and executed by others before they have a chance to abuse their power – an occasion that, while rare, paints the entire order in a negative light when it does come to pass. Only one archon has abandoned his oaths since the Breaking, escaping execution by converting to the more lenient faith of St. Cuthbert instead. The cathedral in Kholes’ name also serves as the highest court in the Dominion, overseen and operated by the Five Hammers – the five eldest archons in the organization. Smaller courthouses, legal offices, and garrisons across the Shards often erect shrines to him. Avatars Kholes employs his avatars very seldom, only deigning to interfere in the mortal world when great affronts to Law arise unchecked and unopposed by mortal agents of peacekeeping. Such avatars are typically exact duplicates of his physical form, unmistakable in their identity and intent. Category:Planeswatch Category:Deities Category:Roseblessed Category:Non-Player Characters